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Dave Brubeck was an American jazz pianist, composer and bandleader who was very much an exponent of the west coast ‘cool school’ of musicians, and who became known for his experiments with time signatures. Having made his first recordings in 1946, he became one of the jazz artists to help pioneer the growth of the vinyl long-playing album market recording for the Fantasy label in the early ‘50s before he moved to Columbia in 1954. This 35-track 3-CD collection (it contains a number of extended performances) comprises almost all the titles from five ‘live’ albums which were recorded during these years, and released during or soon after this era. Those albums were “Jazz at Storyville”, “Jazz at the Blackhawk”, “Jazz at the College of the Pacific”, “Jazz At Oberlin” and “Brubeck & Desmond at Wilshire Ebell” on the Fantasy label, and “Jazz Goes To College” on Columbia, with the recordings presented mostly in chronological order of recording rather than release. It features one solo performance along with trio and quartet performances, with Paul Desmond (alto sax), bassists Wyatt Ruther, Ron Crotty and Bob Bates, and drummers Lloyd Davis, Joe Dodge and Herb Barman. It captures Brubeck’s groups as they took their music into clubs, concert halls and colleges on the west coast and across the country, and offers a fine showcase for their improvisations at a key stage of Brubeck and Desmond’s careers.
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